And they said they would not leave until they got it.

They threatened, unless I gave them the money at once, to leave the place and get word to the police of the presence of the box in my apartment.
"I was in no mental condition to combat and get the better of them.

I felt myself to be entirely in their power.

I saw only the weakness of my own position.

I could not, at the moment, see the weak spots in theirs.